Dahcotah eBook

Food, a pipe, and a short nap before the fire, refreshed
her wonderfully. At first she would hardly deign
an answer to our questions; now she becomes quite
talkative. Her small keen eye follows the children
as they play about the room; she tells of her children
when they were young, and played around her; when
their father brought her venison for food.

Where are they? The Chippeways (mark her as she
compresses her lips, and see the nervous trembling
of her limbs) killed her husband and her oldest son:
consumption walked among her household idols.
She has one son left, but he loves the white man’s
fire-water; he has forgotten his aged mother—­she
has no one to bring her food—­the young men
laugh at her, and tell her to kill game for herself.

At evening she must be going—­ten miles
she has to walk to reach her teepee, for she cannot
sleep in the white man’s house. We tell
her the storm is howling—­it will be dark
before she reaches home—­the wind blows
keenly across the open prairie—­she had better
lie down on the carpet before the fire and sleep.
She points to the walls of the fort—­she
does not speak; but her action says, “It cannot
be; the Sioux woman cannot sleep beneath the roof
of her enemies.”

She is gone—­God help the Sioux woman! the
widow and the childless. God help her, I say,
for other hope or help has she none.

GODS OF THE DAHCOTAHS.

First in order of the gods of the Dahcotahs, comes
the Great Spirit. He is the creator of all things,
excepting thunder and wild rice. Then there is,

Wakinyan, or Man of
the West.
Wehiyayanpa-micaxta,
Man of the East.
Wazza, Man of the North.
Itokaga-micaxta, Man
of the South.
Onkteri, or Unktahe,
God of the Waters.
Hayoka, or Haoka, the
antinatural god.
Takuakanxkan, god of
motion.
Canotidan, Little Dweller
in Woods. This god is said to live in
a forest,
in a hollow tree.
Witkokaga, the Befooler,
that is, the god who deceives or fools
animals
so that they can be easily taken.

[Illustration]

DAHCOTAH;

OR,

THE LEGENDS OF THE SIOUX.

MOCK-PE-EN-DAG-A-WIN:

OR,

CHECKERED CLOUD, THE MEDICINE WOMAN. [Footnote:
A medicine woman is a female doctor or juggler.
No man or woman can assume this office without previous
initiation by authority. The medicine dance is
a sacred rite, in honor of the souls of the dead;
the mysteries of this dance are kept inviolable; its
secrets have never been divulged by its members.
The medicine men and women attend in cases of sickness.
The Sioux have the greatest faith in them. When
the patient recovers, it redounds to the honor of
the doctor; if he die, they say “The time had
come that he should die,” or that the “medicine
of the person who cast a spell upon the sick person
was stronger than the doctor’s.” They
can always find a satisfactory solution of the failure
of the charm.]